The fight was dubbed ‘a fascinating experiment’: would boxing fans show decency and taste?

Thirty-two years have passed since Oliver McCall flew to London to fight Lennox Lewis for the WBC heavyweight title. The one-time sparring partner of Mike Tyson was meant to give the undefeated champion a decent workout and another straightforward win to enhance his credibility. Somehow living up to his rather exaggerated billing as “The Atomic Bull”, 29-year-old McCall dropped Lewis in the second round, stunning Wembley Arena, and, judging by the frenzied way he gambolled around the ring celebrating, maybe even himself too.

By the time of their rematch at the Las Vegas Hilton in February 1997, a gap of less than 2½ years, McCall had lost the belt to Frank Bruno, spent time in rehab and incurred multiple arrests for possession of crack. An all too familiar boxer’s tale of that era. Just weeks before the second bout, he went berserk in a Tennessee hotel, hurling a Christmas tree across the lobby and spitting at a police officer. Then, he found God conveniently located on the road from his cell to Nevada. The portrait was of a woebegone character exhibiting the troubling behaviour of somebody who belonged anywhere but in a boxing ring. So it proved.